Mausam

About the film

Mausam (transl. Season) is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language war romantic drama film written and directed by Pankaj Kapur under the Vistaar Religare Film Fund banner. The film stars Shahid Kapoor opposite Sonam Kapoor. The film was originally scheduled to release on 16 September 2011, but due to the delay in obtaining the NOC from the Indian Air Force, it was pushed back farther by a week, releasing on 23 September 2011.

Plot

The main story of the film spans over a period of 10 years, from 1992 to 2002, and includes references to the Demolition of Babri Masjid, Bombay riots, 1993 Bombay bombings, Kargil War, 9/11 attacks, and post-Godhra riots.

Mausam is the story of two lovers, Harinder Singh, known as Harry and Aayat. Harry is a happy-go-lucky Punjabi guy whereas Aayat is a Kashmiri girl.

In 1992, Aayat and her Bua (aunt) Fatima escaped from Kashmir due to the insurgency. Aayat's mother is murdered by the militants, thus forcing her father Ghulam Rasool (Kamal Chopra) and her Chacha Maharaj Kishan to send her along with her aunt to Mallukot.

Production

In early August 2010, Nawman Malik claimed that the title Mausam is registered under his name and filed a complaint with the Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers. He was also claiming that the story of Mausam is his. Now, Mallik has moved the Mumbai High Court asking for an injunction against producer Sheetal Talwar and director Pankaj Kapur for using the title. He has demanded a compensation of Rs 10 million for the title and has submitted a digital film called Mausam, which he claims he made.

The film was shot primarily in Edinburgh and India while the Air Force scenes were shot at the Gwalior Air Force Base. The shooting took two years to complete, and part of the delay was caused by Sonam Kapoor's illness during the shoot.

In September, the film was denied submission for censorship because the Air Force had objected to a 30-second long aerial action sequence with Shahid Kapoor who plays an Air Force pilot in Mausam. Special permission had been sought and granted to shoot in a real airbase. The Air Force were objecting to a dramatic action fight sequence with Shahid on board a Mirage fighter plane. Mausam producer Sheetal Talwar announced: "We had the script cleared by the Air Force on August 23, 2010. Now suddenly they're objecting to a sequence after it's been shot, edited and the film was ready for censoring?". The satellite rights of this movie were distributed by the hindi general entertainment channel Sahara One for ₹1 crore (equivalent to ₹2.1 crore or US$220,000 in 2023).

Release

Zee News bureau gave the film 4 stars saying "‘Mausam’ can be best described as a wonderful blend of offbeat and mainstream cinema which is full of charm, elegance and vivacity." Nikhat Kazmi of The Times Of India rated it three out of five saying "The film tries to strike a balance between art and mainstream cinema and succeeds partially." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave it 3 stars out of 5. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4 stars out of 5, saying that, "On the whole, Mausam is a slow movie!" but praises the Shahid Kapoor's performance saying "Shahid gives his all to this role, submitting himself to his director-father to mould him the way he chooses to. It won't be erroneous to state that Shahid surpasses all his previous performances, including the one in Kaminey, with this film. The film also marks the coming of age of this actor." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated the movie 2 out of 5, saying, "Director Pankaj Kapur infuses his story and his characters with a delicate, old-fashioned charm that is pleasing and quaint at first, but gets progressively exhausting when logic goes out of the window"

The film made with the budget of Rs. 380 million, opened good at the box office but collections fell on after a week at release of force and the film grossed Rs. 316 million in India. It collected Rs. 450 million (US $5.6 million) gross in its first week and ended its lifetime collections with ₹740 million (US$7.7 million) gross worldwide. The film was declared a flop at box office.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Pritam, while the lyrics were penned by Irshad Kamil.

There are two other songs which were seen in the movie, but were not released. One of them is sung by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal and is a romantic track by Pritam "Zara Si Mehndi"; the other is sung by Shreya Ghoshal, a romantic track "Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar", adapted from the 1961 Hindi film Hum Dono.

Key details